Aaron Donald comeback reportedly a 'real possibility,' but could include delayed start to training camp

Don't expect the same Aaron Donald, even if he does come back.

The whispers around an Aaron Donald comeback are getting a little louder. With speculation mounting about the Los Angeles Rams legend returning to the NFL after three seasons in retirement, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported Thursday that a Donald comeback is a “real possibility,” but the man himself is still split on the decision. What Donald does next might depend on how his workouts go: ”Obviously, we’ve seen him on Instagram.

He’s still jacked. He’s still lifting. He has basically been getting himself in the kind of shape that you do when you take a lot of Instagram videos.

“Football shape is a little bit different, so it certainly sounds like Aaron Donald is going to start working out football-wise and take the next little bit of time to say, ‘Can I get in football shape enough to be the Aaron Donald that I was’ or the best and closest thing to that when he left the NFL.” The possibility of the three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year playing again for the Rams emerged in the aftermath of the Rams’ blockbuster trade for Cleveland Browns superstar Myles Garrett.

With Garrett added to a team that was four points from the Super Bowl last season, the Rams sit as the clear Super Bowl favorite at most sportsbooks. As Rapoport notes, Donald has fueled the speculation with some Instagram posts, as well as a text exchange with Pat McAfee in which he said the Garrett trade “for sure” had him thinking about a comeback. If Donald indeed decides to play football again, Rapoport provided a little more detail on how that would likely work.

Essentially, we shouldn’t expect the 35-year-old Donald to play his old every-down role, or even the full season: “There’s no real deadline here. I don’t believe, based on what I know, that Aaron Donald is going to be showing up for training camp for the Rams. If he does show up, it would probably even be toward the end of training camp and could even be into the season because he’s not going to be playing 50 or 60 plays on defense.

He’ll be more of a spot guy. But yes, Aaron Donald does seem to be exploring this possibility.” Obviously, even a limited quantity of snaps for Donald would represent a coup for the Rams, and a nightmare of opposing offenses.

Between the pair, Garrett and Donald have 236.5 career sacks, five Defensive Player of the Year Awards and 17 Pro Bowl nods. They are the kind of players who don’t just rack up stats, but enhance every player around them by soaking up double teams. Put them together, and it could be carnage.

It might not happen for the Rams, but rare are the offseasons in which the top Super Bowl contender basically has exclusive rights to the biggest possible splash remaining.